A “software product” is typically installed on a computing system via portable computer-readable media (e.g., a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, floppy disk, etc.) or via a computer communications network (e.g., a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Internet, intranet, extranet, point-to-point communications, etc.).
A software product is typically manifested by a bundle that includes installation databases and installation programs on one or more computer-readable media (portable media or via a network) for installation on a computing system. This installation manifestation is bundled so that it provides for installation of the software product on to the computing system from that product's installation media.
For example, the Microsoft® Word® word-processing product is a software product (more specifically, it is an application). The installation bundle for this particular product consists of an installation program and one or more installation databases.
In this example, the installation program is the Microsoft® Windows® Installer software-installation product. The Windows® Installer manages the installation of software products (e.g., the Microsoft® Word® word-processing product) and/or removal, updating, and/or modification of already-installed software products by applying a set of centrally defined setup rules during the installation process. These setup rules define the installation and configuration of the installed application.
The installation database for this particular product is used to hold information regarding the setup and installation of this particular product. That includes the aforementioned setup rules. The installation database is composed of so-called “MSI files.” Thus, the installation is loosely called a “MSI database” and the Windows® Installer is often loosely called a “MSI installer.”
Once installed, the software product has a manifestation that allows it to be functional and/or useful on the computer. Generally, examples of functional and/or useful manifestations of software products are applications, operating systems, drivers, etc.
In a small-scale network, it is common for a network administrator (“net-admin”) to personally visit each physical computer on the network when installing new software products or upgrading already installed products. At each computer, the net-admin or the user typically installs a software product into the computing system from an original installation source (i.e., original installation bundle). The original installation source is typically found on a removable computer-readable media (e.g., CD-ROM or DVD-ROM) or on a network-accessible share-point on a communications network.
In addition to the installation, subsequent updates or repairs to the installed software product may again require access to the original installation source. Unfortunately, the original installation source is not always readily available. A user or net-admin may have, for example, not kept the original CD-ROM or not kept the download authorization for the original download source. More simply, a user or net-admin may have simply forgotten (or never knew) the location of the original installation source.